A Touch of Gold

by Annie Sullivan

  “What about the tapestry?” she asks.

  “I’ll get it.” I pull my sleeve down over my fingers and then slide into the pile of skulls, ignoring the cracks and snaps. I yank the tapestry out. It’s heavy, but I manage to tuck it under my arm without touching it. I ease up the incline until I’m close enough to haul myself forward using the bars.

  “Let’s go,” I say.

  Hettie slowly moves forward.

  I risk one more glance at Royce. Sweat runs down his neck. I hope I’m not imagining that Captain Skulls’s blows are coming less and less often, but I don’t have time to stop and be sure.

  I give Royce one last look as I shove Hettie up the stairs.

  CHAPTER 29

  Hettie nearly stumbles on the steps as we make our mad dash for the deck. I keep my hand on her back to steady her as we move up the stairs. We weave our way through the ship and back up to the open air.

  If I thought crossing the cell was hard, the deck looks like a mountain in comparison.

  My eyes follow the opposite path, toward the rising water. The one that will result in us sliding straight into the ocean and losing the gold if we fall.

  Hettie and I pause in the doorway.

  Rhat spots us. “Come on,” he yells from the deck of the Swanflight. It looks like the fighting has stopped. Groups of men are being led to the brig while others lie unmoving on the deck. I turn away before I recognize anyone.

  My eyes move back to Rhat as he pulls up a long plank of wood and lays it between the Swanflight’s railing and the outermost edge of the railing of the ship we’re on.

  He hops across it and slides to meet us in the doorway. “Where’s Royce?”

  “Still fighting Captain Skulls,” I tell him.

  “He can take care of himself,” Rhat says. “Come on, I’ve got to get the ship clear. That plank won’t stay there long.”

  He takes the platter and the items heaped upon it from Hettie. She grabs one of his arms, and I loop my free one through the other. With his added strength, we make it across the deck. We switch our grip to the railing. Rhat goes up first. He hands off the platter and reaches for me.

  “Hettie first,” I say.

  He nods.

  He helps her on to the plank and holds her hand as long as he can while she balances across. The plank shifts an inch while she’s on it, and I suck in my breath. Hettie crouches low to keep her balance, and once the plank stops moving, she inches forward until she jumps onto the even deck of the Swanflight.

  I hand Rhat the tapestry, and he shuffles it quickly across before coming back for me. He holds his hand out for me to grab.

  I hesitate. Something’s pulling at my mind. It’s the knife. It’s not moving any closer.

  “Kora,” he says, “we’re out of time. The plank’s about to fall. Come on.”

  “Go,” I say. There are two things I’m not leaving on this ship.

  “Kora.” Rhat holds his hand back toward me.

  “Get the ship clear,” I shout.

  Rhat jumps back to the Swanflight, dangling from the railing as the plank splashes into the water. He easily pulls himself up. “Make sure you get away from the ship before it goes under,” he calls. “And watch out for the mast and sails. They won’t hold long at that angle.”

  I race back through the ship. There’s more than a foot of water to trudge through now. My pants cling to my legs, and a chill runs through my body.

  I stumble into the brig to find Captain Skulls holding Royce underwater. A cut on Royce’s scalp leaks blood, turning the water around him faintly pink.

  “No,” I scream. I scramble forward, my heart pounding as I fight to get to Royce.

  Captain Skulls releases his grip and turns on me. His eyes are bloodshot, and there’s a long gash on his cheek. Blood runs down his hollow face.

  He slowly rises to his feet. Behind him, Royce’s body bobs to the surface, face up. I think his eyes flutter for a moment, but I don’t have time to make sure because Captain Skulls advances. He brings the golden knife around and slashes at me.

  I leap back.

  Captain Skulls keeps pressing his attack until we’re nearly back to the stairs. He swings again, and I race upward, panic rising as I leave Royce behind.

  I stumble onto the deck, Captain Skulls close behind me. His steps are unstable, and he has a deep cut across his side that I didn’t notice before. His free hand is putting pressure against it.

  “So it comes down to us,” Captain Skulls says. He slowly shuffles forward, planting his feet carefully on the slanted deck as he moves up higher, cutting off my route back to the Swanflight. “I was saving this for you.” He waves the knife around. “Once you made me a rich man, I was going to add your golden skull to my collection. It would’ve been my favorite.”

  I glare at him. “I’ll turn you to gold just like I did Aris.”

  He laughs. “If you could, you would’ve already.” He lumbers closer, knife at the ready.

  I let him come. The sooner I get that gold, the sooner I can make it back to Royce. And there’s only one way I can think of to get it.

  Captain Skulls slices the blade toward me.

  I duck far enough out of the way to avoid serious injury, though the knife edge bites into my arm.

  I’m expecting coldness from absorbing the gold. What I’m not expecting is how much pain it brings with it. The blade cut deeper than I thought.

  I stagger backward into the tallest mast before Captain Skulls can bring the now silver knife back up. I rest against the mast, careful not to let my skin touch it, and cover the wound with my hand. Blood seeps through my fingers. The gold courses through me so violently I can’t tell if it has drowned out my heartbeat or if it’s slowing on its own because of all the blood I’ve lost.

  Captain Skulls’s lips spread into a satisfied grin. He knows as well as I do that I have nowhere left to run. Not with him blocking the path to the Swanflight.

  “Who knows,” he says. “Maybe when you’re dead, you’ll still be able to turn things to gold.” He raises the knife.

  I’m too weak, too distracted by the gold to react in time. In those last few moments before the knife descends, I hear my father saying my name over and over again.

  Except, when my eyes focus, it’s not my father.

  It’s Royce.

  He’s diving toward me, trying to pull me away from the mast to save me, all while trying to keep us both from tumbling down the deck.

  Over his shoulder, the blade crashes down. Except, it’s no longer aimed at me.

  I don’t have time to think. Royce is about to die. I lean forward and kiss him just as the knife slams into his back.

  CHAPTER 30

  Royce’s lips hold no warmth. They don’t press back against mine. They harden at my touch.

  The force of the knife driving into Royce’s back knocks me away from him, but Royce doesn’t move. His golden arms reach for me, and even the blood on his face has frozen. He sports the smallest look of surprise.

  Captain Skulls cries out in frustration as the knife clatters to the deck and slides away toward a line of barrels, which must mean I turned Royce in time.

  The first part of my plan has worked. I’ve saved Royce.

  I lock eyes with Captain Skulls over Royce’s shoulder. His lips are pulled back in a snarl, and he looks as if he’s going to kill me with his bare hands.

  He takes one step toward me.

  The ship lurches violently, falling even more to one side.

  Captain Skulls disappears down the deck. I don’t know if he hits the railing and goes overboard or not because I’m too busy watching Royce’s statue skid away. All I can picture is Royce joining Aris at the bottom of the sea.

  I slide after him.

  I grab his outstretched hand before he can tumble into the railing.

  “Are you all right?” I ask the moment the gold drains back into my body. I search his face for any signs of insanity. Will he react like the guard? W
ill he jump into the ocean screaming about getting the gold off his body? I tighten my grip on his hand.

  His eyes are wide, blinking against the sunlight. “Is that how most of your kisses go? No wonder you scared all your suitors away,” he jokes.

  Instantly, my shoulders relax. He’s going to be fine.

  I would smack his arm with my gloved hand and tell him that’s not funny, but the ship seems to be tilting more and more by the moment. Our feet keep slipping before finding their traction, taking us closer and closer to the water. The mast above us groans. Rhat’s words come back to me; I definitely don’t want to be standing here when it falls. If the mast didn’t kill us, getting trapped under the sails could.

  Royce eyes the mast before jumping to me, to the cut on my arm. “What happened?”

  “I had to absorb the gold somehow.” It’s still bleeding and hurts to move, but there is a bigger problem: I still have the gold inside me. I wince as the pounding pressure builds up again. It pulsates right behind my eyes, likes it’s urging them to find another target already.

  Royce must read my expression. “You need something else to turn to gold?”

  I nod. We’re still holding hands. I’m afraid if I let go and fall, he’ll reach out to grab me, to save me, and then the gold will adhere to him again, dragging him to the bottom of the ocean.

  Royce spots the knife where it landed not far from us.

  “Hold on.” He waits until I’m stable and slides down the deck toward the knife. Then, he crawls back toward me. He holds it out for me, and I wrap my fingers around the blade. The gold drains out of me, and as soon as it does, the ache in my arm flares up in its place.

  I suck in a sharp breath.

  But something else drowns out the sound. The masts creak as the ship continues to tilt toward the sea. Several of the ropes attached to the rigging snap off the main mast only a few feet from us. We duck to avoid the wooden splinters.

  “We’ve got to get away from that mast.” Royce takes the knife from me, tucking it into his belt. “Come on. We’re going to have to jump off the ship.” He scans the deck we’re on, looking for the best option. “We need to get up there.” Royce points to the helm on the next deck up, where the ship’s railing hasn’t yet been swallowed by the water.

  I look to where he means. If we jump from there, we won’t risk hitting the railing like we will here. And at least we’ll be away from the main mast if it falls, although the shorter mast up there doesn’t look any more stable.

  “We can climb over the railing there,” Royce continues, “and we’ll be closer to the back of the ship and can hopefully swim free before that mizzenmast snaps. But we’ve got to hurry.”

  As I cradle my injured arm, Royce tucks me against him, helping me keep my balance as we struggle up the deck to the staircase leading up to the helm that isn’t underwater yet. I’m only vaguely aware of the gold buttons gleaming down his jacket and the knife in his belt as we jostle forward.

  Royce lets go as we both brace ourselves and fight up the tilted steps. He keeps glancing back to make sure I’m doing all right.

  A salty breeze pushes me up the steps, while behind me, the main mast groans again.

  “Hurry,” Royce says. He reaches out for the hand that still has the glove on it.

  I take his hand and dash up the final steps. We cling to the side of the ship.

  “Stay close, and don’t let go as we work our way toward the railing,” Royce says.

  So we don’t slide full force into the other side of the ship, we latch onto the rungs running in front of the helm and inch toward the ship’s wheel. As we get closer, I realize it’s not a normal ship’s wheel made of wooden pegs. No, this wheel has a skull at its center. Around it, long bones shoot out at even intervals to a wooden outer wheel, and where pegs used to turn the wheel should sit, human skulls have been put in their place.

  My stomach recoils. I look away. Just as I do, a flurry of movement catches my eye.

  Captain Skulls has snuck up the steps behind us. He stares at me with a snarl on his face.

  Before I can warn Royce, there’s a loud crack, followed by several thousand smaller cracks as the mizzenmast above us splinters in two. The broken portion collapses into the ocean, but beams and debris rain toward us.

  “Look out,” I cry as part of a lower sail still attached to a beam falls straight toward Royce. I shove him out of the way, sending him tumbling down the deck. The sail comes down between us like a shroud, and the beam crashes into the helm, sending bones, wood, and skulls spilling around my feet.

  But that’s not the worst part. I hadn’t been thinking when I’d shoved Royce out of the way. I’d been so eager to get him to move that I’d reached out with my ungloved hand. And I must’ve touched one of his golden buttons because gold is pounding around inside me, begging to be set free.

  But before I can search for something to transfer the gold to, a sound behind me catches my attention. I whip around to find Captain Skulls not far away. He slides down the deck toward me, grabbing a pointed piece of debris.

  He advances quickly. I duck down as he swings the piece of wood toward me. I try to scramble away, but my feet are caught in the sail. I lose my balance and put my hands down to steady myself.

  But I don’t pay attention to where my hands land. Instantly, the gold drains out of me.

  Panicked, I look down to see it’s found its way into one of the cracked skulls from the broken wheel.

  Captain Skulls’s shadow falls over me.

  My heart stops.

  There’s no time to think, to find a weapon. I slide my fingers into the skull’s eyeholes. In one swift move as I straighten, I use the momentum of my body to carry my arms around as I smash the golden skull into Captain Skulls’s temple.

  It connects with a sickening crunch of bone on bone.

  Captain Skulls’s eyes roll up, and he crumples at my feet. His body collapses into the sail, pulling part of it down around him. Blood gushes out of the spot where the skull connected with his head before eventually slowing to a trickle. I stand there a few moments to make sure he doesn’t rise, but his chest has stopped moving. I drop the golden skull at his feet, finally giving him what he always wanted.

  And now it is time for me to get what I want.

  I take a breath and scan the deck. Royce is fighting his way up the deck toward me. He’s got the golden knife in one hand and the other pressed against his ribs.

  I climb over the fallen sail and slide toward him. “Are you okay?”

  He nods. “I just hit the railing hard. I’ll be fine. What about Captain Skulls?”

  He scans the deck, ready for an attack.

  “He’s dead,” I say, looking back to where his feet are visible in the tangled sail.

  “Then let’s get off this boat.” Royce tucks the knife away and takes my hand. “Can you swim with your injured arm?”

  I nod. I don’t think I have much choice.

  We scoot down the deck until the railing bites into us. The water is so close. The part of the mast that broke off floats not too far out from the boat, surrounded by other debris.

  Royce helps me climb up the railing before following. “Swim as hard as you can away from the ship,” he says. He takes my hand and gives me one reassuring smile. Then we’re vaulting forward into the water.

  I lose his hand as soon as the water swallows us. Bubbles cloud around us. Salt water stings my arm, threatening to paralyze it. I fight my way to the surface, my arm burning with every movement. When I emerge, I can hear Royce splashing beside me.

  I’m not sure if it’s the waves or the pull of the boat sinking under, but I feel like I’m not making much headway. My arm throbs and more and more salt water seems to enter my bloodstream with every movement.

  I’m not sure how many more strokes I can take.

  Then, Royce is there. His hair is plastered over his face, and he whips it away. He pulls me farther from the sinking boat. “Just float on your ba
ck,” he says. He waits for me to kick my feet up before doing the same.

  I let the water cradle me. After a few moments, the sound of splashing oars rouses me, and I see the spare longboat from the Swanflight.

  Rhat and Phipps lean over the edge as they near us.

  “Careful of her arm,” Royce warns as they pull me into the boat. He heaves himself up next to me as Rhat and Phipps turn the boat around.

  We give the sinking pirate ship a wide berth on our way back to the Swanflight. The sails with the skulls painted on them have already sunk. I couldn’t be happier that I’ll never have to see them again, or their captain. No more dreading closing my eyes and ending up in his cabin. No more skulls watching my every move. No more fear of the gold being lost forever.

  Soon, the ocean swallows what remains of Captain Skulls’s ship, the waves calming. It looks like another beautiful, peaceful morning.

  Weary but happy faces greet us aboard the Swanflight. Most have cuts and bruises, but even still, a cheer goes up as Royce steps aboard, the last one to return to the ship. Their captain is back, and they’ve won the day.

  Hettie lets out a relieved sigh when she sees me. Ignoring the pain in my arm, I pull her into a hug, and it already feels like I have my family back. And when I get home, I’ll hand the gold back to my father. Even though I’ll have to be wearing gloves while I do it, my father will see that I’m not afraid. Maybe, just maybe, that’ll be enough to show him that he can fight the hold it has over him.

  Because sometimes all it takes is knowing you’re not in it alone, that you have a crew who’s got your back. I look around the ship. The men aren’t cowering away from me. They’re celebrating at my side.

  I hoist my hand in the air and whoop and holler along with the rest of the crew because we’re safe, we have the gold, and we’re going home.

  CHAPTER 31

  The journey back to Lagonia stretches on. Ten days feel like a decade. I stick to my cabin, giving the men room to grieve their losses, to hold their funerals without the reminder of the reason they died gleaming in front of them.